1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a method of making landscape rocks and landscape edging blocks, specifically from expended, plastic water bottles and other expended, plastic beverage bottles.
2. Prior Art
One of the serious problems confronting society today is the generation of waste. Landfilling is the primary method of waste disposal, but it appears that landfills throughout the world are rapidly filling up. Discarded plastic containers are non-biodegradable, and so add to the landfill and environmental problem.
The present invention enables the conversion of these non-biodegradable items into useful and decorative articles, specifically landscape rocks and edging blocks, thus keeping these plastic containers out of the landfill. In addition, the landscaping rock or edging block produced by this invention can be filled with non-organic trash, such as empty cans, thus further helping to alleviate the waste disposal, environmental problem.
Also, in the modern world, landscaping has become very important, because it adds to the aesthetic quality of property. Commensurate with the increased emphasis on landscaping has been the need for edging and border structure, and decorative border rocks. The present invention closely simulates masonry materials in color, texture, and appearance, and is economical and easy to install. Because the rock of the invention is made primarily of waste product materials, it serves the dual purpose of helping the environment and adding to the aesthetic quality of a property.
Prior art discloses various attempts to recycle used materials and to produce border blocks and landscape rocks from different materials such as steel, aluminum, plastic or concrete.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,115,178 B1 (2006), to Schofield, (the present inventors), proposes a process to convert empty, plastic bottles into rocks by using heat to make the bottles malleable and actual rocks to shape the bottles into rock-like shapes. The present invention does not need actual rocks and provides even more recycling possibilities, because the empty, plastic bottle of the invention is filled with empty, used cans, or empty, compacted, plastic bottles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,175 (1991), to Kirkpatrick proposes to use expended, plastic, beverage bottles to form cushions, which could be used for various purposes. It addresses recycling, but not landscaping.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,897 (1993), to Nordberg proposes a concrete building block encapsulating a compacted bundle of tires as a building block and as a permanent, environmentally safe container for used automobile tires. This addresses recycling and masonry, but not landscaping.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,813 (2003), to Hsu proposes a hollow, artificial stone. This stone is made using stone powder, adhesive and a mold. The present invention requires no mold because the plastic container is the mold. Also, the Hsu invention does not address recycling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,826 (1977), to Hum proposes a lightweight, cement rock colored with cement dyes or pigments. This uses a mold which has to be made first. The present invention used the actual empty, plastic container as the mold. Again, the Hum invention does not address recycling.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,820 (2000), to Callahan shows a rock made of cement and polystyrene poured into a mold. Again a mold must be prepared first. The polystyrene used is a waste product, but comprises only a small portion of the rock, so the rock materials are not primarily recycled.